The Loud children all gathered together in the living room. Lincoln could hardly believe his luck that his sisters were all willing to watch one of his favorite fantasy films, King of the Rings, with him. The last time they were willing to do this was when he had invited his best friend Clyde over for a sleepover.

"I'm glad you guys are willing to watch this with me, I'm not complaining but can ask what it is that made you want to watch it again?" he asked.

"Well, to be honest, we were having discussions about it from last time, but we had difficulty understanding certain parts so we just thought maybe by watching the film a second time might help," answered Lori.

"Lana and I really liked those battle scenes," laughed Lynn, giving her younger sister a high five.

"They say second time's the ticket, third time's the charm! But then again, there might not be a third time!" joked Luan. Lily was the only one who laughed. Lincoln made ready to pop the film in and he looked back at his sisters and noticed that something was not quite right.

"Uh guys, where's Lucy?" he asked nervously knowing that the little Goth girl could pop out of nowhere at any second giving them close to a heart attack.

"I'm right here," said a rather melancholic voice. Everyone jumped a few centimeters out of their skins and saw Lucy holding what looked like a feathery dream catcher with various silver pieces stuck sewn in it.

"Uh Luce, I know I'm likely to regret the answer but what exactly is that in your hand?" asked Luna.

"According to legend, this talisman can take you into another world by uttering certain phrases, but I dare not say them," Lucy answered.

"Do you perchance have those phrases written down shomewhere?" asked Lisa.

"I do, and I guess I could let you read them," Lucy replied handing her little sister a piece of paper. Lisa very gently took the piece of paper and then with a quick movement of her hand snatched the talisman Lucy was still holding as the main menu button appeared on the screen.

"Let me shee here. 'Naruda!' 'Oddmentium!' 'Frittertwitted!' 'Nonsensical!" she chanted right about when Lincoln pushed the play button.

"Oh no Lisa! Now you're going to be transported to another world!" cried Leni.

"Wrong! I wash proving that thish is jusht a bit of hocus pocus that one can find at a garage shale and that Lucy, as alwaysh was trying to terrify ush!" the little genius girl laughed.

"Uh, why do I suddenly feel lightheaded?" complained Lola.

"Do you need to lie down?" asked Lori.

"No wait, I suddenly feel lightheaded too," said Lincoln. Then all of a sudden, everyone was complaining about feeling lightheaded except for Leni and of course Lily, when they then found themselves not inside their living room. Moreover, they were not wearing their pajamas but looked almost as if they were traveling to a Renaissance fair. Some of their physical features were altered as well.

"Uh, why is it suddenly so dark? Did the power go out again?" asked Luan. She was now wearing dark yellow clothes, an almost maroon traveling cloak and carrying a staff. But what really stood out was that she had a blindfold on.

"Oh, hold still Luan, let me just get that blindfold off for you," offered Leni. She now wore ankle length robes of mint green and had what looked like a white headband tied around her forehead. But what concerned everyone watching her was that she now had pointy ears. She gently lifted the blindfold off of Luan but everyone gasped to see what was beneath the blindfold.

"What is everyone scared about, and you can remove that blindfold anytime now Leni," asked a rather confused Luan. Her normally bright, sparkling eyes were now clouded over with dull white. She was blind!

"Looks like darkness is now your friend!" said Luna, trying to lighten the situation the way Luan would. Luna was now dressed in a purplish jerkin, black tights and two swords hung upon her black leather belt. She, as usual was holding Lily who was wrapped in a rather simple blanket.

"Guys, I almost hate to admit it, but something tells me that whatever Lucy had was no joke, I think we have been transported into the world of the movie, and we are now taking the place of the normal characters!" said an alarmed Lincoln. He also had pointy ears, his orange shirt now appearing more medieval. He had brown leggings and a green traveling cloak. But most distinguishing of all, a sword hung upon his side.

"Well that is just dandy! Lucy! You had better be able to get us back home!" screamed a very angry Lori. She was dressed in dark blue traveling clothes that appeared to have seen better days, and was carrying a quiver of bow and arrows. She, like Lincoln and Leni had pointy ears.

"I'll see what I can do," replied Lucy. She out of the entire group was easily the most transformed. Her normally pale skin had turned a light grey. Her teeth were sharp. She had a brown leather outfit on that appeared to have been crudely stitched together. She had a brown cap that covered most of her head, but her dark hair still made it impossible to really look into her eyes. Upon her back she carried two small axes and on her belt was a small knife with a silver skull carved on the handle.

Lisa willingly handed her the paper and unusual talisman. She did not appear guilty or ashamed. She just seemed upset that magic had somehow won over science. She almost looked the same as ever, although her clothes now looked like she had been trying to dress up as a pirate. With the exception of a purple hat that stood about six inches that now rested on her head, and a backpack she was now carrying. Lucy looked over the paper carefully. If they could have seen her eyes, they might have guessed that she was unnerved.

"My dearest siblings, I might have bad news. It says that in order to return to the world you were before, ye must first face a challenge the new sets to thee," she read.

"What does that even mean?" asked a horrified Leni. She had placed the blindfold back on Luan; she didn't want to look at her normally cheerful sister's milky eyes.

"I almost hate to say it, but I think it's saying that we might actually have to live out the storyline of the movie before we can think about going home," answered Lincoln.

"Does that mean we get to participate in all those battle?" asked Lana excitedly. She was wearing what could easily have been a woolen vest, breeches, and a green shirt. But the most unusual bit of garment she now wore was some kind of medallion with stars on it around her neck.

"If it's a fight this place wants I'll be ready for it!" added Lynn. She wore red leather armor and a gray helmet. Like Lucy she also had a pair of axes on her back.

"Mom and Dad are not going to appreciate this," said Lola. Her tiara was gone but she still wore a dark pink robe and carried what appeared to be a golden scepter.

"Right now, our main priority is to get home, then we'll see how Mom and Dad feel about this," said Lori, still trying to remain in charge.

"If I could just have everyone's attention!" shouted Lincoln from on top of a large rock. The girls turned around to listen to their brother.

"Alright, I've scouted a little bit of the surrounding, so the bad news is I was right, we are in the world of "The King of the Rings." The good news is that I've seen this movie enough times that I know the lay of the land and its people. Moreover, judging by all of your costumes, my theory that we are now the characters of this movie is proved accurate. Even though most of them are in fact men. Luan, you have taken the place of Kento, the blind warrior monk. Lori, you are Shelda, an elven archer. Leni, your character is Pinta, she's an elf noble who joins this quest to act as an ambassador. Luna, you're Amelda, an excellent swordfighter. Lynn you are now in the place of Hogart, a dwarf who enjoys nothing more than a good fight and red meat. Lucy, you have taken the place of Slashclaw a goblin that chooses to abandon the ways of evil and turn a new leaf. Lola, you are now Cristal, a wingless fairy with great light magic. Lana, you have now taken the place of Yoshka, you can transform into almost any animal. Lisa, you are simply Pip, a gnome wizard. Me, I guess I'm just Dan, a Halfling trying to make something of himself. Lily's just Lily I'm afraid," he told them.

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound, the siblings looked around and saw a man with red robes and pointy ears come towards them.

"Ah travelers, we were beginning to lose hope, come, there is much to be discussed of your upcoming quest," he said. Lincoln jumped down from the rock and whispered something to Lori. She nodded in some kind of agreement.

"Thank you, we will follow you with glad hearts," Lincoln replied. The elf led them away from the clearing to wherever this discussion was going to take place.

"Uh you better not leaf me behind! Get it, because we're in the woods! Or at least I hope we are!" cried Luan. Leni took her wrist and wordlessly led her.

They were all introduced to a regal looking elf named Griffond. He took them into a room with a large table with a few other elves that he said were his closest lieutenants. They showed the siblings a series of maps and paintings. Griffond even told them a story.

"Many years ago, there were three rings of immense power. One of them was lost in the Forgotten Mines. A group of dwarves made it their mission to look for that particular ring, but tragically nothing has been heard from them recently. Now the other two have been accounted for, unfortunately, they are as of fairly recently out of the hands of good," Griffond told them.

"One is held by Duke Marubend, a truly great swordsman. (Here, Griffond looked upon Luna with slightly uneasy eyes.) The other is now in the custody of King Cypress. The two of them are in league and intend to combine their power to enslave this land in their evil," he continued.

"Uh okay, how exactly do we fit into all of this?" asked Leni. Lori elbowed her and gave her an angry glare. Griffond suddenly looked taken aback.

"Have you already forgotten? You were the ones who volunteered to go on this mission when word was sent out amongst the rebels. Has something changed?" asked Griffond.

"Nothing has changed, but there might be some complications to the original plan. Might we have this room to ourselves? Just so we can talk about this further? You know, in private?" Lincoln replied, trying to sound confident. Griffond nodded and with a single wave of his hands his lieutenants followed him. Now the Loud children were by themselves.

"Okay Lincoln, this is something you know all about, this is sort of your world, and you know all the details of the story. We look to your leadership," said Lori.

"Well, we already agreed that the best way to get home was to act out that movie," said Lucy.

"Right, but I'm not going to make anyone do something they'd rather not do. I will warn you all, this is not going to be easy, might even be dangerous," Lincoln replied.

"I laugh in the face of danger!" Lynn and Lana shouted at the same time.

"We will play your game," said Lisa.

"Alright, but there something I need to tell one of you in particular," said Lincoln, here he turned to look Luna in the eye. Suddenly everyone's eyes were upon her. Her eyes shot around the room.

"Uh dudes, why's everyone lookin' at me?" she asked.

"Luna, there's a reason Griffond looked at you when he told us about Duke Marubend, see in the mythos of this story, your character was something of a protégé to him before he became evil," Lincoln told her. Everyone gasped.

"Twisted!" she replied. Lincoln then went over to the door, knocked three times and they were rejoined by the elves.

"Alright, we are ready for the quest whenever you are ready to send us out upon it," he told them.

"Wonderful! I am glad that nothing has changed, I hope the complication has been resolved," said Griffond, then he looked upon Lily who was still squirming around in Luna's arms.

"Oh, I must apologize, it might not be wise to take one so small on this adventure. Might I offer you the chance to leave her here? We have nursemaids that will look after her, care for her, nurture her until you return. If return you can," he suggested.

"Leave Lily here?" asked Lori in a surprised tone.

"No, he's probably right. It wouldn't be right to take Lily on this sort of quest; she'd be much safer here. After all Linc here said it'd be dangerous," replied Lynn. If Griffond noticed a change in the name of Lincoln's character, he neither said nor showed any of it.

"All right, we'll leave Lily here, it's probably better anyway," agreed Lori.

"Uh, come to think of it, maybe I should stay-ouch!" Luan said before Lola stepped on her foot in order to shut her up.

"Dear Luan, why would you want to stay? It is said that without your sense of sight, your other senses became so great you can hear a foe step on a twig. In addition you once took on five goblins by yourself, using their movement against them. Besides, you were told that on this quest your sight might be restored," asked a confused Griffond. Everyone was surprised to hear him say Luan's true name. They expected him to call her by her character's name.

"Maybe it's best that we get referred to by our true names, prevent confusion for us, heaven knows what the gender bending we caused did to this film, thanks to Lucy's talisman," Leni whispered to Lori.

"Forgive her Master Elf, she's just a little nervous being around a group of people she's never had a chance to know before," said Lincoln, trying to make up a decent excuse.

During the week leading to their departure, Lincoln had convinced some of their elven hosts to give them some crash courses on how to fight and use certain forms of magic. Saying they all just wanted to get some practice in so it wouldn't appear suspicious. Lisa found leather water bottles filled with various types of potions in her backpack. Thanks to her chemistry experience, she had a good grip on using them. Lynn was already good on using her axes, being a black belt and having used a wide variety of sports equipment. Lana even got to practice her ability to change into animals, which she loved to pieces.

When the day came to make their departure, they were proudly packed with proper provisions and camping equipment provided to them by the elves. Leni had gladly accepted some bow and arrows that she now carried on her back. They all kissed Lily goodbye, promising to be back.

"Good luck adventurers, and remember, none of you are bound by any oath to go further than ye would desire. But your ventures will surely be worthy of a few songs at the least," said Griffond. So then they were off, Luna holding onto Luan's hand. Once they were out of sight of the elves, Lincoln tied a rope connecting Luan and Lana's belts together.

"If I had done that while we were still there, they would've been suspicious. Lana, congratulations, you are going to be Luan's eyes unless we come across a foe then you at the least will need full flexibility," he explained.